Land of Rivers
by Mango Tee
Summary: Near the end of the Second Great Shinobi War, demons dominated the countries: destroying cities and slaughtering humans. At the edge of extinction, mankind turned to advance weaponry. One shinobi will purge through the horrors in order to survive. Progressive Era AU
**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Naruto scrubbed his notebook with the tip of his cream colored eraser. This had been the fifth time he messed up within a ten-minute timeframe. These types of mistakes weren't common at all. He was so used to Umino-sensei's long drabble and sometimes off track lectures that he couldn't keep up with this sudden pace. He was forced to erase another word from his notes making sure to quickly double back with Umino's teachings.

Iruka Umino was Naruto's homeroom teacher. The man was wearing a navy blue collard, long sleeved button down shirt with black slacks, and black oxford shoes. His brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail. His obvious feature, however, was a long thick scar that streaked horizontally crossing the bridge of his nose.

Umino took a break from his manic attempt to blast through the presentation sliders and glanced towards his students. Naruto was unfathomably happy.

The classroom was constructed to house thirty students. Unlike the classrooms for the juniors downstairs, the desks were built right onto the wooden floor. There were breaks in between them to make three columns, and three rows. In front of the room, there were four colossal whiteboard panels unused at the moment. Umino decided to use the projector for today's lecture.

"Now which part of the continent is mostly dominated by the demons?" Umino looked out to see any volunteers. A second later, a delicate, soft right hand could be seen in the air, "Sakura."

The name belonged to a girl on the second row to the far left with cherry blossom colored hair. Sakura was wearing the school's uniform consisting of a white button down shirt under a navy blue long sleeve, v-neck shirt, a navy blue slacks and matching casual shoes. She smiled, "they've mostly controlled the eastern part of the continent."

Naruto knew the answer too. He just didn't want to say anything as he wanted to relish every second of this pause from the lecture.

"Correct!" Umino beamed, pride shinning from the pores of his face. "It was in the second shinobi war when these demons were first seen." Umino clicked on his remote and the projector revealed a geographic image of the eastern countries. "Assaulting major cities, consuming humans, you know these are the types of actions generally observed by investigators and researchers alike."

"What makes humans so important?" It came from a boy behind Naruto. He knew the voice. Shino Aburame was a top tier student ranking in fifth of the whole class. He donned the Academy's uniform: a collard, white button down shirt under a navy blue long sleeved, v-neck sweatshirt, navy-blue slacks, and a pair of oxford shoes. But, since he was a part of the Aburame clan, he was allowed to wear their signature goggles that hid his eyes and apparently—according to the teachers passing by the hallways—improved their eyesight ten fold.

"Good question, Shino," Umino answered excitingly. "And that's the thing, we don't really know the answer to that question. From scouting reports, the demons ignore animals and there have been no reports of them disturbing the environment further implying that their primary objective is eradication of humans."

The scarred teacher turned around and began circling major cities and villages in the eastern border of the continent. Those places were destroyed by the onslaught that transpired six decades ago. From the textbooks, Naruto read their indiscriminating savagery as they obliterated one city to the next.

"Psst," adjacent to Naruto was a spiky, brown haired with a downward elongated triangle tattoo in each cheek; an obvious member of the Inuzuka clan. Kiba tried his best to remain undetected from the teacher's supernatural hearing. "Did you guys hear that Akamichi's captured a raptor demon?"

Another male classmate on the left of Naruto blew a raspberry. Sasuke's bangs swayed as he shook his head in disagreement, "that's a lie. They'd never get it pass customs."

"No, no see, I heard that they paid someone to look the other way."

Sneaking a demon inside the village was bizarre. Military villages spent most of their resources with a full intention of killing the demons on sight. It could be a secret mission for research purposes. But, if that was the case, the Hokage would be aware of it and a blockade would have been put in place to escort the team straight to the ANBU headquarters. And Naruto was so sure he hadn't heard of any yesterday, "why would they bring it in the village?"

"Oh that's the best part!" Kiba's onyx eyes sparkled. "People are saying they held this huge ass clan meeting and then grilled it."

Bullshit! From time to time, Chouji would wonder how those things actually tasted. The whiskered blond always assumed Chouji could never go through with his curiosity. However, since it was a family occasion, the gentle giant had all the opportunity. The entire family sharing the same—slightly disgusting—thought was a ridiculous notion.

Naruto dipped his head down, avoiding Umino's gaze, "they ate it?"

"Right?" Kiba's excitement never left him. "It's hardcore!"

Sasuke propped his right cheek on his right hand on the sole purpose of fading out of their conversation. At the same time, he rolled his eyes. It seemed like he didn't want to hear any more of this.

"You don't believe me," Kiba motioned towards the young Uchiha.

"Hmn," kept his gaze towards the teacher. The scarred instructor was on a new slide. There were pictures of Kusagakure ruins. It'd been two decades since an army of demons laid waste to the land, murdering most of its civilians. Out of a population of 362,503, only a confirmed 872 survivors were found.

Kiba reeled his head back abruptly. "Dude," Naruto let out a soft chuckle. It was amusing to see the young Inuzuka's hell-bent determination. "It's—"

Sasuke's elbow stabbed Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto was about to give Sasuke a piece of his mind, however sapphire eyes started to trace where the Uchiha was nodding towards.

Umino paused near the projector. His arms intersected in front of each other, branding a disgruntled appearance. The three of them garnered the attention of the entire class. Umino frowned, "it's okay, I can wait on you guys."

Kiba placed his head down, "sorry sir."

Several seconds flew by before Umino continued his lecture. He moved onto a slide which consisted pictures of the untouched northeastern land and a continent to the north. "Like I was saying, aside from the other countries, only the Land of Clouds and the Land of Iron stand strong with a firm military structure and organized government."

Without keeping his eyes off the teacher, Kiba passed a small torn note to Naruto and Sasuke. It took several seconds for Naruto to read Kiba's atrocious handwriting, but the blond understood it as: We can ask Shika later.

Blaringly, the bell rang.

Naruto wasted no time in packing his notebooks, geography textbook, mechanical pencils and erasers. The classroom was filled with the noise of bag packs shuffling, zippers opening and closing. It sounded like everyone was in a rush to escape this room.

"Alright, alright!" Umino-sensei exclaimed; waving his arms around garnering most of the student's attention. "Everyone settle down! The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do. Guys remember that the graduation test is going to be this Saturday. Prepare to be tested in everything you learned during these three years! That means, hand to hand combat, marksmanship, genjutsu, ninjutsu, and most importantly, mental challenges. Naruto, remind the class what these all imply…"

The whiskered blond couldn't help but plaster an irritated look. Why was he picked in a class of forty students? Shrugging, Naruto replied, "we study 'till the big day."

"Close, but not quite." Umino-sensei broke eye contact and bridged it with other students. "The Academy is giving you guys three days to prepare for the test. I would review everything for two days and take it easy on Friday. Your brain needs rest too."

Off to the side, Kiba chuckled arrogantly, "Naruto's brain's been resting enough."

Laughter erupted in class, just the way Kiba wanted it. It was such an easy set-up, there was no way dog breath couldn't pass off the opportunity. Especially when it brought the attention of the cute girls sitting two rows in front of them.

"Settle down!" Umino-sensei looked towards Naruto again, an apologetic smile was all he could give. When silence finally descended, the scarred teacher reached below his desk to grab a brown leather messenger bag, "okay you can go now!"

* * *

Chouji Akamichi was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. His navy blue long-sleeved crew uniform was stained with cheese puffs. After inhaling the snacks in his hand, he released a colossal burp, and unwrapped a zip-lock bag filled with peanuts. He looked up to the sky, "that looks like a huge banana covering a smaller banana to me."

Shikamaru Nara was lying next to the big boned student. He was infamous for napping during lectures. During their early years as students, Naruto didn't want to be associated with the guy in fear of getting in the crosshairs of other instructors. However, as years passed, Naruto began to see his—almost—boundless intellect.

Shikamaru scanned his navy-blue slacks to see a small pile of crumbs building. He swept if off with the use of his right hand. Glancing towards the student working towards his ninth bag of chips, Shikamaru said, "I'm telling you there's a fin there. You have to lean your head to the right a little."

"I'm not seeing it," it was Sasuke who answered. The Uchiha and Naruto sat across from them with their backs leaning on the roof fence.

"It looks like a deformed banana," there was a smug smirk plastered on Kiba's face. Auburn-haired student was lying on his canine companion's large frame, Akamaru. They dominated a spot near the rooftop entrance where a small cover shaded them from the illuminating sun. Since Inuzuka's commonly developed with sensitive senses, the group decided to let them have the most comfortable spot in the rooftop, much to Shikamaru's annoyance.

Shikamaru tilted his head, bridging eye contact with Kiba. The lazy genius rolled his eyes, "your dick's a deformed banana."

Kiba reeled back, "why?"

Sitting on the bench next to Chouji was Shino Aburame. According to Kiba, no one was more talented at keeping the girls away than him. Which was—unfortunately—precise, Naruto thought. It wasn't the guy's fault that his clan was famous for applying insects as a combat tool. They did, however, look cool when Shino used a swarm of bees to clear out a house during a combat simulation.

Shino took out a red Tupperware from his backpack. Opening it, he gave half of a sandwich to Chouji. Never the one to decline delicious food, Chouji gratefully accepted it.

"Thanks," the big boned Akamichi beamed. "So, are you guys ready for the exam?"

Naruto chuckled, "hell yeah! I don't know why Iruka didn't hand me my headband on my way out the door."

Sasuke turned towards him with his very own smirk, "I'm surprised to see you with over confidence when you barely passed the physics test."

The blond pointed at the Uchiha. "Not true," Naruto replied. "I'm telling you that I had a different test. Super difficult," the blond croaked out, "incredibly long one."

Kiba snorted as he fed Akamaru with some ham. "You always think that Umino-sensei has this strange vendetta against you. And Pork-Chop," Kiba looked at Chouji while Shikamaru glared from the side. "How many times have I told you to stop worrying about the test?"

"I'm like this because I want to pass the test." Chouji answered with a frown, "I need to be a ninja!"

"He says while eating junkfood…" It was a soft mumble, but from where the blond sat, it was enough to pick it up. It earned him a small grin.

A thin shadow materialized and smacked the young Inuzuka on the back of the head. Kiba couldn't help but yelp. Akamaru lifted his head abruptly, but placed it back on top of his right paw after he stared at Shikamaru for a few moments.

"No one here has a clear idea what the test is about. Instructors have given really vague answers since the spring term started. It's making you anxious and I understand that, but I'm with Kiba when he says stressing about the test is pointless." Shikamaru stated.

The boy with the face tattoo was still rubbing his sore spot, "that's the first."

"You rarely have any good arguments," Shino answered as he finished the last bite of his sandwich.

Kiba shot him an irritated look, "what's the deal with you guys? Anyways, I heard the final examinations change each year. They've done this since one of the advisors… I forgot his name. I think it was Danzo—something held one of the chairs on the committee."

Naruto took a sip of his bottled water before asking, "What was the test last year?"

"I overheard one of the seniors that failed last year," Sasuke contributed as he took a break from his dumplings. "They mentioned a retrieval objective of a supply convoy passing through the dunes at the Land of Wind. Apparently all examinees had seventy-two hours to retrieve the supplies."

The whiskered blond raised an eyebrow, "all the way over there? Do we even have control on that land?"

Shino nodded, "my cousin came home yesterday. She said the Eighty-Ninth finally established a forward operating base in a town near Owada River."

"Sure," Kiba dipped into his black bagpack. He withdrew, what appeared to be a big turkey leg, from a ziplock bag and gave it to Akamaru who happily nibbled on the treat. The dog looked so engrossed, Naruto couldn't help but pat the top of his head. "And on my sister's graduation exam, each student got a target and they would have to observe and report on them for forty-eight hours without getting spot by the instructors.

Chouji chuckled, "that's lucky. You would've failed that year."

"Agreed," Shino bowed his head. "Your reckless behavior is ill-suited to an intelligence gathering mission."

"Hey," Kiba exclaimed. "I'll have y'know I'm the most patient person in the world. Do you have any clue how long it took Akamaru to stop peeing in the house?"

Akamaru barked.

Kiba turned his head towards the titanic canine. Pointing, he mentioned, "it was a freakin' century! And the only reason why I got caught peeking that one time is because Naruto ratted me out."

Naruto adopted a faux frown, "dude, and how can you perv-out on sweet, innocent Hinata?"

Kiba growled in return. "How many times do I gotta spell it out for ya man?! She's faking it. We've been classmates since secondary school and there's no way her shyness is getting worst."

"He has a point if you think about the people she socialize with." Shikamaru was still looking at the clouds above them. "I've seen her with Ino shop for clothes a bunch of times."

"Point-and-case! Plus," The young Inuzuka started whilst flailing his arms around. "Have you seen her tits? Grade A, bruh!"

"You mean D?" There was an unexpected sparkle in Naruto's sapphire eyes.

Kiba grinned in return.

"Anyways, if I knew that you were going to spend one hour with Maito Guy during physical training for a week, I would have done the same." Sasuke countered while casually bumping fists with Naruto.

Kiba blew a raspberry, "jokes on you 'cause now I can do a thousand push-ups."

The whiskered blond found himself surveying the parade of clouds above them. He wasn't able to see the dolphin cloud Shikamaru singled out before. The air probably mushed it into another large cloud that oddly reminded him of an ice cream cone. Naruto looked back at his group of friends, "Well, that kicks out a retrieval or intelligence gathering type of test…"

"I bet they're going to have us perform the replication technique," Chouji incredibly squeezed out in between devouring a new bag of chips.

"Why on earth would they have us do something as stupid as that?" When Shino delivered a questioning look, Kiba shipped a scowl back. "Hey, a single technique can't test us in marksmanship, hand to hand combat, or other fields of study." The young Inuzuka spared the big boned student a look, "and dude, quit pulling your hair over it. Just use the review guide Umino-sensei gave us and you'll do fine.

Sasuke rolled a plastic sheet into a sizable ball. Raising his left arm, he flicked his wrist and catapulted the trash into a bin near the rooftop entrance. "Dog breath is right. Polishing our skills is the only way to prepare for the exam."

Silence descended.

Chouji seemed assured well enough after Sasuke's comment. Diving back into the fundamentals was the perfect option in prepping for the graduation exam. His ninjutsu, sealing techniques, hand to hand combat, aim—god his aim! He wasn't proud to admit that his accuracy needed more than a simple brush up. He'll be lucky to hit a target from more than fifty meters, and that was without factoring in wind.

He needed a distraction, quick!

Naruto turned towards the chunky student, "did your family really eat a raptor demon?"

* * *

Naruto lowered his head down further into the darkness. Sapphire pools cautiously studying from right to the left. Pillars of oaks partnered with splashes of olive green monopolized his vision. He couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary, but that didn't mean everything was clear.

He heard the leaves whistling, chanting even, as a breeze swept by. The blond looked behind him almost instinctively. If something was going to happen, he was betting it was going to be in the stampede of the wind.

Nothing.

The whiskered blond rested his palms to the ground in a painstakingly slow manner; delegating all the weight of his body to the tip of his feet and hands. In the event of netting something unusual, Naruto wanted his body fully prepare in catapulting to the nearest safe-zone.

Twelve meters, diagonally across from him was a giant tree with a light horizontal gash on its wooden frame. The third tree away from that had a large, wide branch he could use as a survey spot. Just in case things were going to go south, Naruto was going to use that spot to gather all the necessary observations to act.

Seven o'clock.

The dangerous projectile almost struck him. Extending a dome of chakra mere centimeters from his body, it ricocheted chaotically blunting the nearest branches. Leaves sashayed in the air as they were falling from the force of the attack.

In less than a second, Naruto propelled into the air like a missile. A blanket of heat accumulated and wrapped around his face and chest. Though it didn't distract him from his destination. The marked tree was the only thing that was in his mind.

A turquoise glob glued to the surface of the branch.

Shit!

It detonated a second later. Thankfully the explosion wasn't large enough to inflict a major damage. He would've been pretty pissed if it did. However, pain erupted behind him as he landed on his back. Twisting from right to left, Naruto tried to purge through the pain.

Snatching the pistol from his right thigh, he extended his arm and blasted the weapon somewhere southwest. A gigantic bush rustled violently as it felt the lightning impact of three rubber bullets. Seconds later, the plant died down. It became obvious to him there was no response.

He missed completely.

All of a sudden, Naruto was kicked from the back. Struggling to climb back to his feet once more, a rubber bullet smashed onto his right wrist; disastrously knocking his pistol out of his hands. The blond heard a couple more projectiles whizzed behind his neck.

Rolling to the side allowed him to dodge the next waves of bullets. From the corner of his eyes, his opponent discharged an empty clip and, with his other free hand, reached behind him to retrieve a new one.

Measuring the distance between them, the whiskered blond figured there was enough space to interrupt this action. Pumping chakra into his legs, Naruto soared forward with his fist ready. His surroundings transforming into abstract shapes at the peak of his speed.

Delivering a wild jab, his opponent twisted his upper torso on the point of evading his hasty attacked. But it was too slow. Naruto ended up burying his fist on his opponent's left shoulder. When he noticed the guy's distressed look, Naruto decided to follow it up by punching horizontally across in a close arch; his body twisting to accommodate the full strikes. Thankfully, the last cross was a hit.

His opponent created some separation between them. Stepping closer to sunlight, and after a few recuperating breaths, Naruto locked onto Sasuke's clear form. Smirking, the young Uchiha rubbed his stomach, "that last one was all luck!"

"A hit's, a hit!" The whiskered Uzumaki retorted.

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

Sasuke's chest expanded suddenly. He cupped his lips.

Naruto's sapphire pools widened a little. _What a freaking sore loser!_

Naruto was force to take to the skies as a colossal fireball emerged from the Uchiha's mouth. Thank the sage for the track-suit, Naruto thought. Without it, he would've been more uncomforted by the blistering air. Under him, the ball of death passed him and scorched an innocent tree behind him.

Landing, Naruto pointed to him discriminately, "you freakin' lunatic!"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto sprinted eastward in search of the nearest forest ranger booth.

* * *

Two boys in matching black tracksuits, one blond and the other a dark-haired, walked down a paved street. After getting off the bus transit, it didn't take long for them to reach Naruto's neighborhood.

Sasuke trekked beside him with his hands inside the safety of his pants pockets, "nobody likes a snitch."

"You know what…" Naruto grumbled. He could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"It's a general consensus," Sasuke countered. "More like a social law, actually."

Naruto didn't bother to share his side of the sidewalk with a cat. Kicking it out of the way, it shrieked and ran across. Waving his hand effectively, he said, "D'you realize how much trouble we would've been in?"

The Uchiha prodigy took another sip of his sports drink before continuing. "I've heard stories from Obito. Are you aware that snitches don't last long? They get a butt-full of shiv before guards can even get the cell doors closed."

"Whole forest," the whiskered blond emphasized. "In flames."

"If you don't want to be a sorry loser, you have to change your ways." Naruto could feel a glare emitting from his best friend.

"You're the one that lost it," the whiskered Uzumaki shouted. " _Ohh, I got a boo-boo! Better roast Naruto now so he learns!_ " He changed the pitch of his voice to imitate Sasuke. "Freakin' psychopath! We were this close to going to prison for arson."

Sasuke scoffed and turned his head away from the blond, "not if you didn't snitched."

Naruto pointed at him, "and how, great Uchiha, would you have taken care of that fire?"

"By not snitching."

"You're impossible," the whiskered Uzumaki groaned as he looked out. The sun was starting to hide behind the cover of the mountains. Dark indigo brushwood of the night dominated the heavens as it clashed with the golden splashes of the sun. Streaks of purple, pink, and orange, bordered the struggle for control of the skies. "Look, you wanna come inside for dinner? We're having ramen tonight."

They stood outside his home. To Naruto, it was an average looking house, beige exterior painting accented with stone designs on the corners. There was a small, well-groomed lawn grass in the front. The beautiful flowering, shrubs leaned on the wooden front patio where his mom often liked to read.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You managed to convince your mom?"

"Yeah man," Naruto nodded his head at the only victory of the day. "Added a spice of tears here and there, kept reminding her that it was my last night before we head out for exams tomorrow."

"Can she make dumplings?" Sasuke's eyes were sparkling.

"You ungrateful…" Naruto opened the door and stepped inside ushering the Uchiha prodigy to do the same. "There are some leftovers on the fridge. Fair warning, it was from two nights ago."

They left their footwear by the front door, though Naruto kicked them off and sloppily left them where they landed. Sasuke, on the other hand, took the time to place them on the rack by a lovely large vase. The two students entered a wooden-floored hallway, on the right of it was a staircase.

"Oi, mom!" Naruto called out as soon as he stepped into the kitchen. "Sasuke's staying for dinner!"

A tall, slender woman with long flowing red hair was near the stove stirring the contents inside a cooking pot. She wore a yellow shirt and black leggings under a black, red-trimmed apron.

"Don't greet me with 'oi'!" Kushina bonked her son with an extended wooden spoon. "Naruto, go set the table." While Naruto whined, she turned to her son's guest. "Are you fine with ramen, Saa-chan?"

Naruto took the dinner mats and plates from the cupboard. "Sasuke wants to clear out the dumplings from the other night too."

Kushina nodded her head, "sure. I'll heat it up real quick."

She opened the refrigerator door in search of finding the leftover dumplings. Locating them in a plastic Tupperware near the orange juice, the red-haired Uzumaki quickly scooped them to place them in the oven on a heat-plate.

Meanwhile, Naruto was on a mission to get the glass cups. The only thing holding him back was the considerable climb in order to reach them. Barely managing to open the cupboard built above the counter, the whiskered student dropped his pride and tippy-toed for the glasses.

Another pair of hands stretched up to recover three glasses.

"Here you go," Sasuke passed him the drinkware set.

The sneer was hard to miss.

The blond looked prepared to bombard the Uchiha with fists.

"Naruto," His head met the cruel touch of the wooden spoon again. "Hospitality. How many times do I have to remind you? Alright boys, sit! I'll bring the food over."

On the corner of the room, under a bright light, was a circular dining table with four chairs. In the middle of the table were table-napkins tucked inside a wooden container with condiments like ketchup and mustard. Hunger giving them the boost they needed, it didn't take long for the boys take their chairs opposite of each other. Once Kushina finished in pouring the ramen in three large bowls and setting them on top of squared-crimson plates and handing Sasuke the dumplings, she took the chair next to Naruto.

They clasped their hands in unison.

"Thank you for the provision!"

"Thank you for the provision!"

"Thank you for the provision!"

Naruto dipped into his ramen instantly; swirling the noodles all around his chopsticks and ferrying it inside his glutton of a mouth. Sasuke was more reserved with his dumplings, adopting well-taught table etiquette. Kushina followed suite, taking in more vegetables in her ramen than her son's. Occasionally, the whiskered student would give her mushrooms that somehow made it into his heavenly bowl.

"So Saa-chan, how was your day?" Kushina inquired, taking a break from her bowl.

Sasuke elevated his shoulders, "Okay, I guess."

The Uzumaki queen beamed at the response, "good! Good!" She precipitously shifted towards the boy who inhaled his second bowl of ramen. "And _you_ , what have you been up to all day?"

"Just practicin'!" Naruto squeaked. "I swear!"

Sasuke bridged eye contact with Kushina. "Well, there was that time where we almost burned the whole forest down."

A palm slammed onto the table

"WHAT?!"

"LOOK!" The guilty blond held his arms high. "I had to dodge that fireball, okay! And Mom, it was ducky's fault over there."

Naruto didn't usually like to resort to Sasuke oddly shaped hair. It was too personal, and it wasn't really the Uchiha's fault he couldn't tame his strands. But, this time, Ducky seemed on fully intending to leave him bleeding out on this dinner table.

Sasuke stared at him, "it doesn't feel good, does it?"

Naruto turned away, "lick the darkest part of my asshole, Uchiha!"

The wooden spoon clobbered him again, "language."

Kushina reached out and got Sasuke too, "no more trying to cook my son, Saa-chan."

Rubbing the sore spot, Naruto cried out. "To be honest, we were just sparring. Y'know practicin' for the big exams tomorrow."

"That's fine and all," Kushina adopted a frown. "Just don't let it escalate to such extremes, y'know."

Sasuke shifted his eyes towards Naruto's mother, "Auntie—"

A breeze of death passed through both boys. "Come again?"

Naruto hugged himself, shivering uncontrollably.

Sasuke managed to gulp down a sizable lump in his throat. "Kushina-san, how did your academy exams go?"

Hurricane Kushina died down.

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm dying to know too!" Naruto pressured his mom.

"Hmmm, let's see…" the redhead placed a finger on her lips. "If I remember correctly, it was a rescue type objective."

Blond eyebrows pinched together in confusion, "you had to go out and save people from the demons?"

Kushina waved her left hand dismissively. "Well, the demons didn't roam back when I was fresh out of the academy. It was—I think—beginning of my promotion as a chūnin when they started attacking cities."

Naruto slurped some noodles before questioning. "So, what did you guys do?"

"First of all, students were grouped up in teams of four. They also appointed genin alumni to each team and they guided us to a designated location inside training ground forty-four," answered Kushina.

"The Forest of Death," Sasuke quaked out. He was shaken about something.

Naruto clutched the giant serving spoon and refilled his bowl for the fourth time, "sounds scary…"

"It was!" Kushina accepted some mushrooms from her son. She continued, "there were tigers, crocodiles, scorpions everywhere. My team didn't move for a good twelve hours because we were afraid to go outside the hut. Anyways, we all slept that night."

"You didn't appoint a watch?" The prodigy asked incredulously.

Kushina shook her head. "There was a genin among us, so we didn't think it was necessary. We thought she'd be a part of the team. Like a team leader, y'know? But, when we woke up the next morning, she was gone. It took us a while to get going on to our objective, but we reached our target. I'll tell you, it was the HEAVIEST dummy ever created by man! It took forever to get it outside the Fourty-Fourth."

"That's it?" Naruto paused to take a sip of his ice tea. "All four of you had to carry a fat mannequin back to the entrance gates?"

A tick was spotted on his mother's forehead, "you've got some balls on ya, brat! No, that wasn't the only thing we did. We had to protect it from attackers and took the long way to avoid some traps. Examiners were watching us the entire time, y'know. If the target sustained a considerable amount of damage, then you failed. The graduation percentage plummeted that year."

Naruto dipped his head down, "oh, I don't feel good."

The redhead lightly patted Naruto's hair, "but, don't worry! You boys will be fine. I have complete confidence in you!"

* * *

The Uchiha didn't stay long after dinner; saying something about wanting to get some things ready for tomorrow. Naruto accepted it, nonetheless. He also had to prepare for tomorrow. Unboxing some shuriken and kunai knives packs, polishing his combat knife, gathering all the food rations he could find in his closet. Most importantly, though, he needed to sort out all the doubts in his mind.

The blond was standing outside, on the balcony. Gazing up at the spring skies, Naruto found them calming to glance at. Whatever may happen tomorrow, he thought, the sky would continue to shift from day to night and vice-versa. A universal law, irreversible. And the whiskered Uzumaki found relaxation in that.

Sapphire eyes drifted down to stare at his open palms. Recollecting some thoughts from before, Naruto was satisfied with his marksmanship. Yes, he didn't hit Sasuke—who was definitely in the bush—but at least the bullets precisely flew where he aimed the front of the pistol at.

During the spar, he was able to calmly process the information sailing to his brain rather than letting instinct control his actions. It was a good sign of mental preparedness.

Ninjutsu? He didn't bother with that. Naruto had it in the bag.

Like all Uzumaki's before him, clients really didn't come to them for genjutsu work.

What was next?

Naruto admitted that his taijutsu could use a little work. Throwing his arms and feet around wasn't just going to cut it. He needed to be in the position to ultimately decide which strike, cross, jab, kick, was going to connect with his opponents and actually deliver. Forging random attacks was going to fail him in the exams and definitely get him killed out in the field.

Control. It was a biggie.

Despite what he may project to his friends, Naruto was worried. These exams were just another stepping stone in becoming a Hokage, yes. But, currently, with all the luggage he carried, this seemed a like a never-ending ocean between being an academy student and a full fledge gennin.

"Can't sleep?"

Kushina was right behind him. Standing in the middle of the sliding door, worry was plastered on her features.

Naruto agreed with her, "I keep thinking about the time I took the entrance exams. I had to generate a wall of chakra to repel incoming tennis balls. It took me two weeks and three tries to finally get in. What if this is gonna be similar to that?"

Kushina crinkled her nose, "that's ridiculous. Your exams are going to be more difficult than that…"

"Mom, I'm serious." He countered with a frown.

"Come," his redhead mother beckoned him inside, "follow me."

They were already upstairs. Kushina's room was perpendicular to his coming from the stairs. From the balcony, however, it was only a simple hard right turn. His mom led him inside.

The king-sized bed dominated most of the space of the room. Directly across from it was a dresser with a mirror. A lamp on top of an end table was trying its hardest to single-handedly illuminate the olive-coated master bedroom. The walls were boarded up with pictures of him and his parents; some friends Naruto didn't recognize; the Uchiha's like Sasuke, Obito, Mitoko, and Itachi; also a huge framed picture of his parents, a white-haired shinobi with raised wooden sandals with a big-ass scroll on his back, and the Third.

From her walk-in closet, Kushina retrieved a sizable wooden box. She had a difficult time opening it without a free hand, so Naruto volunteered his.

Inside the container was an onyx colored, six-chamber revolver. Naruto was drawn to its beauty, he couldn't help but brush his fingers across the barrel. It was engraved with a whirlpool insignia, sweeping to the right he traced across the serial numbers. Securely placed in the foam were five quick-reloader cylinders; fully-equipped with the bullets in them. Picking up a bullet, the blond studied brandings of a seal.

Kushina's violet eyes twirled, glimmering in sincerity. "This was your father's."

It became difficult for him to breath.

"I promised you a gift after you pass your exam, wasn't that the deal?" Her smile carried something tranquilizing. "Instead of focusing what _may_ happen, use that unending energy of yours to think about what _will_ happen. This will be waiting for you when you get back."

* * *

 **A/N** : Finally read the the ending to Naruto. Some parts I liked, some I didn't. Overall, I still very much love Naruto that won't change. I decided to listen to my friends and binge-watched Attack on Titan. An idea was choking me and wouldn't ease off, this was how I began writing this story.

 ** _This is not a cross-over._**

People have this idea that mixing shinobi and firearms will only lead to a disastrous outcome. **_This stands as a trial to see if it is true_**. I believe I have found a way to balance the power from civilian to shinobi and shinobi to shinobi. All I ask is that you keep an open mind when I deliver it.


End file.
